


Z is For Zesty

by FakePlastikTrees



Series: Holiday ABC's 2012 [26]
Category: Sons of Anarchy
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-16
Updated: 2013-03-16
Packaged: 2017-12-05 12:08:17
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/723133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FakePlastikTrees/pseuds/FakePlastikTrees
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Z is for zesty</p>
            </blockquote>





	Z is For Zesty

“Hi, honey.”

“Hi! In here!” Tara calls from the kitchen, bouncing baby Thomas on her hip as best as she can while trying to stir the vegetables in the frying pan at the same time.

“Grandma!” Abel screams in the living room before Gemma picks him up and offers a handful of kisses, then carries him into the kitchen where Abel is screaming his lungs out.

Tara can feel the warning signs of a migraine on the side of her temple and she winces against the sharp ring of Thomas’s cry against her ear drum and the piercing hiss of the vegetables burning on the stove.

Gemma picks up the frustration the room within seconds and she sets Abel down promptly, “Be a good boy and go play in your room, okay? Quietly.”

“Okay.”

She walks up to Tara and touches her shoulder gently, holding her hands up when the younger woman flinches. “Hey, Mom, let me take him.” She waits for Tara to register her presence in the room fully before taking the baby. She shushes him gently and rubs her hand up and down his back, his cries settling to dull hiccups. “Teething still bad, huh?”

“Yeah,” Tara nods, her voice shaking as she stirs the food faster. “Shit. I burned it. SHIT.”

“Okay,” Gemma starts forward, keeping behind Tara as she reaches over her shoulder and quickly shuts the stove off before placing a stilling hand over Tara’s, which still has a tight grip on the wooden spoon. “Okay, baby. Let it go. Let go of the spoon, it’s okay.”

The air feels like it’s coming up through a straw when she breathes, but Tara nods and turns her hand up to grasp Gemma’s when the spoon falls into the pan. “Okay,” She breathes.

“It’s okay, baby.” Gemma repeats, Thomas finally settling down on her hip as Tara squeezes her hand even tighter until it’s growing painful.

“Okay,” Tara says for the third time, waiting until she can take a decent breath through her nose before letting go of Gemma.

“Why don’t you have a beer and go take a hot bath? I’ll get the boys to bed, huh?”

“I have to make dinner.”

“I’ll take care of it, honey, go relax.”

After a moment, Tara exhales heavily and finally turns to face Gemma. Taking care of things while Jax is away looked a lot easier on paper. Gemma touches her brow and Tara jumps a little, then closes her eyes for a moment when Gemma’s fingers push her hair back and behind her ear, then continue to comb through her hair, raking soothingly against Tara’s scalp until she’s nearly relaxed and breathing easily in and out. Right now, this very second, Tara can’t believe this does it. She can’t believe this is all it takes. When she opens her eyes, Gemma is smiling.

“Go take a bath,” She says. And Tara wants to kiss her.

Something in Gemma’s eyes flickers and they both look away at the same time. They never talked about it after it happened. Yes, it was only a kissing, but talking about things like that never helped anybody. It would only bring up a bunch of questions and their world has no room for the answers. So they pushed it aside and continued.

“Thank you.” Tara says and moves swiftly past Gemma and Thomas.

It turns out, a hot bath is just what Tara needs. And halfway through it, with a nice subtle beer buzz, it’s quiet. Gemma has miraculously gotten the kids to bed and Tara feels an entirely different sized weight off her shoulders.

When she returns, dressed in clean clothes, her hair still damp, the house is clean and there’s a different smell coming from the kitchen. It smells good.

“Did you make dinner?” She asks, incredulous.

Gemma turns from where she’s emptying the burned vegetables into garbage disposal and smiles a beaming Gemma smile. “Yeah, baby, I’m sorry but I couldn’t save it.”

“I’m a little insulted,” Tara says jokingly, picking up a piece of grilled chicken from the new pan sitting on the stove. She licks her thumb clean and hums, “Yum. Zesty.”

Gemma chuckles, rinsing the last of the vegetables off the dirty pan. “Zesty, yeah, I’d say it’s zesty, not like this--goo you were trying to pass off as dinner.”

“Okay, not you’re just twisting the knife. You want a beer?”

“Please,” Gemma answers, then dries her hands on a dish towel. When she turns around, Tara is holding a Corona and the older woman is momentarily struck by Tara’s eyes. That look hasn’t completely left her and so Gemma wastes no time in downing about half of the beer in one gulp. When she comes up for air, she clears her throat and says the only thing she hopes will divert the tension, “You should eat. It will make you feel better.”

“I think kissing you would make me feel better.” Tara says, her heart already beating faster and not at all surprised by the sudden outburst because it‘s all she‘s been thinking about for days now. Gemma leans against the sink and stares back with an arm draped over her chest and a daring look on her face.

“Tara--” Gemma begins threateningly, but Tara is already this close and Gemma can smell her shampoo. “This is a bad idea.”

“Is it?” Gemma asks as she takes Gemma’s beer out of her hand and places it on the counter behind her, bringing herself so close, their bodies are pressed together and their noses are grazing. “I don’t want to be alone, Gemma. And we can take care of each other. You can take care of me.” She says it sweetly and she can tell Gemma is affected because her breath hitches just like that and she’s holding onto the edge of the sink with both hands. Gemma is a sucker for ‘needy’.

And then Gemma leans forward and they kiss. She’ll remember in the future to remind Tara that this was most definitely her idea.


End file.
